Did our brains invent music, or did our biology evolve us into musical beings? Two psychologists grappled with these questions in a conversation published recently in The Atlantic. Gary Marcus, professor of psychology at New York University and the author of Guitar Zero: The New Musician and the Science of Learning, argues that music isn't "wired into our genome," but rather is something humans have crafted, a "cultural product." Geoffrey Miller, professor of psychology at the University of New Mexico and author of The Mating Mind: How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Nature, argues that humans share a natural affinity for music that has been biologically selected for through the ages. What do you think? Are we biologically wired for music, or did human beings produce it, among other products, from the context of and stimulated by the cultures in which we've lived? Read more: Did Humans Invent Music? (Atlantic)
Jennifer Hambrick unites her extensive backgrounds in the arts and media and her deep roots in Columbus to bring inspiring music to central Ohio as Classical 101’s midday host. Jennifer performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago before earning a Ph.D. in musicology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.